Articles by Stan Gill

The newest edition of the MIT Faculty Newsletter includes an editorial and article addressing the East Campus development process — both in response to the update on the plan from this summer broadcast by Provost Martin A. Schmidt PhD ’88. The article, written by Architecture Department Head J. Meejin Yoon, outlines the heavy involvement of the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P), in developing a revised vision for the design project.

Provost Martin A. Schmidt PhD ’88 announced last week plans to move forward to create a new institutional entity at MIT. The entity will incorporate values from several programs, including the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) and Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), to create a new center focused on complex and socio-technical systems, information and decision systems, and statistics.

In addition to recommendations to demolish Bexley and the several capital projects ongoing in Kendall and Central Square, MIT started several renovation projects of its own over the past year — including renovations on Building 2 and E52, the demolition of Building 12, and the opening of the new Koch Childcare Center adjacent to Simmons.

Turning left off of the infinite corridor at Cafe Four could soon lead to a new destination. Director of Campus Planning, Engineering &amp; Construction Richard L. Amster, confirmed that Building 12 could be demolished as early as this summer, pending approval by the City of Cambridge. The removal of the building will make way for the Nano-Materials, Structures, and Systems Lab (nMaSS), which is projected to be completed in 2018.

Yesterday, at a meeting with the advisory group for the future of Bexley Hall, the Department of Facilities and the Division of Student Life put forth a recommendation for the demolition of the building. Formerly an undergraduate dorm, Bexley Hall was closed after commencement this past year after inspections revealed a myriad of structural issues. If the recommendation is accepted by senior MIT administrators, the proposal will go to the City of Cambridge to acquire the necessary permits to evaluate and demolish the historic building.

Now that the new dining plan has been in place for almost four semesters, how could it improve? Although the House Dining Program is unlikely to change in the short term, the system will be evaluated after next year in an assessment driven by student opinion and data that Residential Life &amp; Dining can gather about usage of the plan, feedback about the quality of food, and other metrics, says Henry J. Humphreys, senior associate dean of Residential Life and Dining (RL&amp;D).

“One overarching message emerged from student and faculty feedback: ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,’” the report reads. The IAP Subcommittee of the Faculty Policy Committee has released its final report following a “thorough review of IAP and its evolution in the last 40 years,” as stated in its charge. The report contains 10 recommendations in response to seven questions the committee was asked to consider, as well as an additional recommendation regarding campus community during IAP.

This year saw the implementation of Residential Life Area Directors (RLADs) into most west campus dormitories. The RLADs — an extension of the previous Residential Life Associates (RLA) position — are meant to provide support for students, housemasters, and Graduate Resident Tutors (GRTs). They joined the communities of Maseeh, McCormick, MacGregor, Burton-Connor, New House, Next House, and Simmons at the start of the Fall term.

In 2012, the MIT community was saddened by the deaths of three members: Brian G. Anderson ’13, Heng “Nikita” Guo G, and Allison Tovo-Dwyer G. Guo’s death was ruled a suicide, Anderson’s was due to an opiate overdose, and Tovo-Dwyer passed away after a year-long battle with cancer.

When the Residential Life Area Director (RLAD) position was announced via a leak from one “Tim Beaver” this summer, students and GRTs alike were up in arms about the impending addition of an administrator to the dorms without prior notification. The RLAD of each dorm is meant to work as both an administrative assistant to the housemaster as well as a source of support for students and GRT. The seven RLADs, two of whom were previously Residential Life Associates (RLAs), started their new jobs in August and moved into the spaces created for them in their respective west campus dorms.